Reading, Counting, Speaking

You can never have too many copies of "Hop on Pop".
As I've mentioned before, I love to read books! I've been working hard on learning my letters for a couple of months now and have mastered all 26 now! I'll be reading words before you know it! Then, I can participate in the eye-tracking experiments that Mommy runs in her lab at Skidmore and start earning some cold hard cash!I've also been working on learning my numbers and can identify the numbers 4, 8, and 9. And, I can count to 2. Hmmm...if you can only count to 1, is it really considered counting? What if you count to 1 in the middle of the woods and nobody hears you do it?

Finally, ever since I discovered putting words together, my expressive language abilities have exploded (in a good way!). I talk all the time! I love repeating what other people say and have picked up on sayings like "awesome", "nice", "good idea", "hey now", "oh my", and "sorry about it". I also use words to communicate things that I want or need saying, "Daddy help", "Kaira want it" and "Kaira touch it". When I'm playing with a fun toy or when someone gives me fruit snacks, I say "Kaira excited". Impressively, I can even use the "ing" form of words ("Kaira helping") as well as possessives ("Mommy's shoes") and past tense ("pooped"). And all of that in just 2 weeks since I first uttered the phrase "Night, Elmo". Language development is amazing.

Night, Elmo!

Last night after Dad had put me to bed, he was apparently spying on me by listening to me through the baby monitor because he heard me say my first two-word utterance: "Night, Elmo!" What an amazing phenomenon! I discovered that I can put multiple words together to communicate meaning beyond just labeling objects! I continued to say "Night, Elmo. Night, Elmo. Night, Elmo." over and over again until I eventually fell asleep myself. I don't know why he wouldn't just shut his eyes and go to sleep. He probably needed a nukkie.


Here's how Mommy found me the next day:

Tulip Festival!

Spring is in the air and the tulips are in full bloom in Albany! So, Mommy, Daddy, Grammie, Papa, and I headed down to the park to check out the flowers one day after one of Mommy's ultrasound appointments.

Ok, Daddy...let's go see some tulips!

Has anybody seen the tulips?

There they are! Feathery tulips? Now that's something you don't see every day!

How do they smell, Papa?

These look like some good ones to sniff...

Now THAT'S the smell of Spring!

Um, guys. This one seems to have escaped the fence!

Pretty flowers...pretty girls...

The tulips were nice, but what I really loved was the fountain in the park!

I had a good time playing in the dirt for a while, too!

And after a day of walking around the park, there's apparently nothing funnier than smelling your feet. P-U!

Alpacas!

This past weekend was the Washington County Fiber Tour! "What does that mean?", you might ask. Well, it means that I got to visit a real alpaca farm! Grammie, Papa, Mommy, Daddy, and I all got in the car and headed out to see these amazing creatures (none of us had ever seen an alpaca before). They were adorable...and colorful, too!

Wow! Alpaca fiber is incredibly soft!

What a wonderful spring day on the farm!

After we left the alpaca farm, we headed to a sheep farm. We arrived just in time to watch them sheer the sheep. At first, I was a little scared because I thought they were hurting the sheep. But then I found out that he was just getting a haircut so he wouldn't be so hot during the summer months and everything was ok.

I think this sheep just smiled at me.Do you think this sheep realizes that I'm looking at him with my peripheral vision? Wait a second! Do you think he's looking at me that way, too?

So, THERE'S the black sheep of the family...Um, Mr. Black Sheep...are you stuck?

Sheep are hilarious!

It was great seeing the animals up and close. And since then, every time all of us get into the car together I say "Alpaca", hoping that we're going back to the farm. Did I mention that I've also bookmarked several alpaca videos from YouTube and watch them daily?

18 month checkup

I had my 18 month check-up this week and boy am I getting big!

I weighed 21 pounds, 6 ounces (10th percentile) and was 32 inches tall (60th percentile). You'd have thought from the screaming that having my head circumference measured was about the most traumatic thing I've ever had done to me, but eventually the nurse was able to measure that, too (18 inches, 25th percentile).

Winter 2010

"So, Kaira. What have you been up to since Christmas?"

Why, thanks for asking...

First of all, I must brag a bit. I'm only 18 months old, but my fine motor skills are incredible. Specifically, I am really good at stacking blocks and have been able to stack 7 of them, on carpet. I'm not supposed to be able to do that until I'm at least 3 years old! In fact, these blocks are part of a toy that is for kids ages 2 and up that I'll probably master before my second birthday. Shhhh...don't tell anyone that I'm breaking all of the rules!

Perhaps my favorite thing to play with these days are stickers! I love to decorate envelopes with them and then take them all off and put them on other envelopes. I also like putting them on my clothes, which has made doing laundry a bit interesting for Mom and Dad lately.

Hey, Mom...can I have some more stickers?

I think my shirt has room for a few more!

Mom and Dad got me a play kitchen for Christmas, complete with a microwave, oven, sink, and refrigerator, and I love playing in it. Some of my favorite things to make are pepper tea, orange juice, and fried eggplant. This kitchen has been great for my language acquisition, too! It's really helped me learn the names for so many fruits and vegetables.

Hmmm...should I add oregano, cinnamon, or ginger?

My kitchen is SO much fun!

My love of food extends beyond the imaginary world into the real world as I am QUITE the sophisticated eater. Of course, I like the typical toddler foods like macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, french fries, and chicken nuggets. I also eat my fair share of goldfish snacks and fruit snacks. But, what I really love are foods with some zest or spice! I love fruit, especially oranges, bananas, lemons, apples, kiwi, and any kind of berry you can think of. I love spicy food including jambalaya (the spicier the sausage, the better), hot wings, burritos, and pizza with jalapeno peppers on it. And I could eat beans every day: black beans, green beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, and of course, jelly beans. Did I mention that I like spinach and artichoke dip, too?

Here's me eating a hot dog and some cheese:

Um, can I get some dip (aka ketchup) please?

Yum...ravioli! (Notice my mastery of the fork!)

Mom and Dad got me a potty chair because I've been fascinated with flushing the toliet and may be ready to start potty training. Here's me sitting on my potty...well...kinda...

I love spending time with people and am very sociable. My Uncle Mike came to visit me one day and we talked about the many benefits of wearing hoodies!

I certainly like wearing toddler clothes and with all of the walking I've been doing these days, I've been wearing shoes more often. Do you like these shoes? They were my daddy's when he was a toddler, and now he's passed them down to me.

Daddy's little girl:

Looking good in my new kicks!

Hey, if I keep growing, maybe one day I'll be able to fit into these shoes, Daddy!